Letter-rack.



No. 780,443. I V PATENTED JAN. 17, 1905. A. J. PHILLIPS & W. D. CHAPMAN.

LETTER RACK.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1904.

f liwercfoni'n zlizeasesw Patented January 17, 1905.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR J. PHILLIPS, NORWOOD, AND WILLIAM D. QHAPMAN, OF THERESA, NEW YORK; SAID CHAPMAN ASSIGNOR TO SAID PHILLIPS.

LETTER-RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 780,443, dated January 17, 1905.

7 Application filed May 31,1904. Serial No. 210,507.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ARTHURJ. PHILLIPS, residing at Norwood, in the county of St. Lawrence, and WILLIAM D. CHAPMAN, residing at Theresa, in the county of J eiferson, State of New York, citizens of the United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Racks, of which pencil, and calendar holders designed to be used upon the ofiice-table; and the objects of our improvements are to provide a portable, attractive, and'convenient holder of sufficient capacity to hold the daily correspondence of.

the'ordinary office and one in which its contents are readily accessible and'by the use of which letters can be quickly assorted, inserted, and withdrawn by a single motion of the hand and though varying in thickness will be securely held out of the way of other table-furniture and papers. Its calendar can be readily seen and changedand the device so constructed as to be strongly and economically manufactured and not liable to gather dust or be easily put out'of repair. These objects we attain by the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of our invention ready for use. Fig. 2 is a sectional end view of the same on the line in y in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of. the pencil-holder designated as it in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4: is an end view of the pencil-holder on the same scale as Fig. 3.

The lettering in all the figures is uniform.

a represents an oblong base, preferablyof wood, to which is firmly attached, near each end thereof, the wire coil 6, which is drawn over an arched metal former 0, preferably consisting of a strip of sheet metal the edges of which are rolled upward so as to embrace the strengthening-Wires cl, (shown in Fig. 2,) the ends of which wires may be driven into the wood of said base, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, in order to afford amore rigid support to the said arch. The wire coil 6 is held to said metal arch by the wire 0, which is strung through the interior of'said coil, and

its ends run through said base a, as shown by 5 the broken lines in Fig. 2, as close as possible to said metal arch and drawn tightly down and fastened in said base by any customary means, such as upsetting the ends of said wire efso that said coil is thereby drawn tightly down against theouter side of said arched former. The said coil may be further secured to said base by means of wire staples driven into the base and embracing the end convolutions of said coil, respectively, at the outer side thereof, or by any other suitable known means.- It will be noted that by thus fastening down this coil at the points of its most extended circumference and by the use of the arched former as hereinbefore explained the 5 several convolutions of said coil are more widely separated at the circumference of such arched coil than they are where they-rest upon said former,thereby formingan elastic wedgeshaped opening between each convolution 7 which permits a much easier insertion and withdrawal of letters and similar matter and a firmer grip thereon when inserted than would be the case if such coil were secured to a base in a straight or an approximately straight line. Equidistant from but near the center of said former are attached the two hooks f f in any suitable manner, so as to depend therefrom and adapted to be inserted in perforations suitably disposed through the upper end of an ordinary card calendar, thereby hanging such calendar within said arch. Near the 'foot of said metal arch and on the inner side thereof the spring-wire clip g is fastened to said base by having its ends driven into the 5 substance of said base, as shown, or by any other suitable means, so that its curved end i shall rest upon the base near the center thereof and be adapted to hold letters that may be inserted between said curved end and said 9 base. To provide a convenient holder for the ordinary oifice-pencil, a close coilof wire 72,, smaller than that used in the arch 7), is formed and the ends thereof brought upwardly therefrom and parallel to each other for a short distance, when they are bent abruptly toward and terminated a short distance from each other. The device so formed is then placed under said arched former distant from its foot about a quarter of its length and clasped about the same by spreading apart said inwardly-turned ends until they pass the sides of said former and which when released enter from either side between the convolutions of said arched coil, so that said pencil-holder remains dependent therefrom, as shown. The forward edge of said base may be inscribed with suitable legends to indicate the location of different classes of mailable matter placed in said device.

In use, our improved device being placed upon the oflice-table in the position in Fig. 1, the newly-received letters are by a single motion of the hand inserted edgewise between the convolutions of the arched coil on its upper left-hand side. When desired to be read and answered,the letters are withdrawn from the position described, opened, and then inserted in a similar manner in the right-hand side of said arched coil. The answers are sealed and placed under the spring-clip g, ready to be mailed. The office-pencil when not in use can be inserted in the coil of the holder It, and the calendar hung from the hooks f is used in the ordinary manner.

Having now described our invention and the manner of its use, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a letter-rack, the combination of a base; a rigid former having upturned edges and secured at its ends to, and springing away from, the base and so constructed as to form an open space between the arch of said former and said base; an arched coil of resilient wire closely confined on the outside of said former and an unyielding binder passing longitudinally inside of the entire length of said coil and securely fastened at both of its ends to said base contiguous to said former, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to the foregoing specification in the presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR J. PHILLIPS. WILLIAM .D. CHAPMAN. Witnesses:

I. (J. MoRRow, GEO. E. Yos'r. 

